NORTH WALES RAILWAY.

HL Deb 12 February 1849 vol 102 cc560-3

LORD MONTEAGLE

, in calling the attention of the House to this subject, said, that he had no personal interest whatever in the matter. The noble Lord then recapitulated the facts as to the orders which were made by the House last Session for the production of the accounts of the company, and the disobedience to those orders which had been shown by the officers of the company. He complained also that the directors of the company had improperly lent a portion of the funds of the North Wales Railway to the Richmond Railway Company. The pretext that the accounts of the company could not be rendered because the company was involved in a Chancery suit, ought not to be received by their Lordships as a sufficient reason. If the principle were admitted that railway companies might refuse to render an account upon the ground of proceedings in Chancery, their Lordships might depend upon it, that whenever a case occurred which they desired to keep from the knowledge of Parliament, a friendly suit in that court would be instituted for the sole purpose of evading inquiry into their affairs. Another motive stated by this company for not furnishing the documents required by the House was, that not being able to dissolve legally, they had been obliged to divide the money among the proprietors. The justification, therefore, for not obeying their Lordships' orders was actually that they had violated the law. Their own wrong-doing was pleaded as an excuse for disobeying that House. Under the circumstances, he was desirous of urging upon the House to support its own authority. Let their Lordships remember that railway companies were created by Act of Parliament, that Parliament had given them enormous powers, and that if Parliament did not exercise some controlling power over their proceedings, the safety of public life and public property would be endangered. In pressing this matter on their Lordships' consideration, he begged it might be expressly understood that he had no individual object in view, his only desire being to bring under the consideration of Parliament the present state of the law with relation to the security of railway property and the public interest therein. He had introduced a Bill in the course of the last Session, having reference to the auditing of the accounts of railway companies, which had received the entire sanction of their Lordships. The Bill, however, had failed in another place; and he would leave it to their Lordships and to the country to say whether the circumstances of the last year had not afforded fair ground for believing that the Bill would have boon attended with satisfactory results. In the course of last year some of the largest railway companies were obliged to publish balance sheets of their accounts, in order to set their affairs right with the public; but were not those statements merely certificates of character drawn up by their own officers? How much better would it not have been, and how much more satisfactory, to have had those accounts publicly audited. This appropriation of money, originally subscribed to make a railway in North Wales, to the costruction of a railway in Surrey, showed the necessity of providing a remedy to meet the abuses which had crept into the present law. The question now at issue resolved itself into two—namely, whether a contempt of that House had been committed; and second, the unsatisfactory state of the present law. He thought he had made out a case, with relation to these accounts, to show that there were abuses under the existing state of the law. This being admitted, it behoved their Lordships to see how far the law required to be altered, to prevent, as in the present case, fraudulent concealment of facts and contempt of their Lordships' House. Though he was far from having abandoned the question of contempt, he should at present take no steps with regard to the individuals who had been in attendance at the bar (Mr. Chadwick and Mr. Marriner), but propose a Committee to consider how far it was expedient to provide by law for a better audit of railway accounts. To that Committee he should propose to refer the accounts of the North Wales Railway Company, as part of their duties, with instructions to report thereon; and he should take no steps, as affecting the individuals in question, until the House saw, by the report, the exact state in which the accounts were found.

LORD BROUGHAM

had a strong opinion with respect to the question of contempt now involved; however, he thought it would be better first to get the accounts, and after the inquiry, which he presumed would not be long, they could enter on the question of privilege. While he was on his legs he would trespass on their Lordships' attention for a few moments while he alluded to a subject, connected with the safety of the public, which had been brought under the notice of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council that day. The case was one in which many of the most eminent engineers were examined touching the merits of a newly patented axletree for railway carriages. The axle was called Hardy's Patent Axle; and the members of the Council, under whose notice it had been brought, were of opinion, that nothing could be more satisfactory than the success of the improvement which it effected over the common or ordinary axle. The axle had been subjected to a weight of 150 tons; and although the carriage to which it was attached was propelled at the rate of sixty miles per hour, the axle, so far from breaking suddenly, as ordinary axles did, bent into a circular shape, without a single fracture affecting the mass. Mr. Stephenson, who was examined upon the subject, approved of it highly, and stated, that out of fifty common axles subject to the same power only two were unbroken. Moreover, the patent axle could be supplied 30 per cent cheaper than the common description, which proved its superiority in another respect. The experiments which had been made were of so satisfactory a character, and the improvement so well calculated to promote the public safety, that he considered himself justified in bringing the subject under their Lordships' consideration.

The MAEQUESS of LANSDOWNE

was understood to express his approval of the course proposed by Lord Monteagle.

The EARL of MINTO

observed, that, with reference to the North Wales Railway Company, there had been a clear case established against them of contempt of their Lordships' House; and, under those circumstances, he thought it would be well, in the first place, to deal with the party guilty.

Order for the attendance of William Chadwick and John Marriner at the bar of the House this day discharged:—Ordered, that the said William Chadwick and John Marriner attend at the bar of this House en Thursday next, at Five o'clock.

House adjourned until To-morrow.